Sustainability of Research Centres - Advisory Science Council

2.2 Definitions
2.2.1 Research Centres
Currently in Ireland a research centre can be defined as an organising structure to support research and
research-related activities. In its most basic form, such a structure is a means of grouping researchers
(from academic to industrial) with a common research activity -either physically or virtually - in order to
leverage the benefits of scale to achieve specific objectives. The specific objectives of the research
centre dictate the characteristics by which the centre is defined 34 . It is acknowledged that in the Irish
context, research centres constitute entities ranging in scale from 2-3 people to hundreds of people and
ranging from entities with governing bodies to those with no underpinning centre infrastructure 35 . It is also
recognised that research centres are multi-faceted. They play a central role in the overall research and
innovation system and in most cases there is an interconnectedness of research centres with higher
education activity. Research centres differ in their structure and operations depending on:
Their thematic focus.
The rationale for public funding.
Local policy considerations.
The relative maturity of the research and innovation ecosystem as a whole and its major component
parts.
In the most innovative ecosystem, centres have the flexibility to evolve and change direction quickly to
grasp new opportunities.
2.2.2 Sustainability
Sustainability of research centres is not the same as survival of the research centres. To be sustainable,
research centres need to be able to finance their costs in such a way that they are not creating liabilities
for future years 36 . The following is a definition of sustainability that is consistent with an aspiration for
how research centres might operate:
“A research centre is being managed on a sustainable basis if, taking one year with another, it is
consistently recovering the full economic costs across its activities as a whole 37 , and is investing in its
infrastructure (physical and intellectual) at a rate adequate to maintain its future productive capacity
appropriate to the needs of its scientific programme and sponsors or customer requirements 38 .”
34 In the context of this study the distinction that has been made between a research group and research centre or institute is that that a research
group has no specific cohesive element that drives the research activity in a strategic manner. It is acknowledged that the characteristics of research
groups across the Irish system can vary dramatically in terms of scale and output and that it is likely that there are research groups that are not
included in the maps that are larger in scale and output than entities termed research centres that are included in the current maps.
35 It is noted that in this study, incubation centres and research initiatives or networks were not included as research centres.
36 Monitoring the Sustainability of the Public Research Sector Research Establishments-Andrew Davidson, Quotec Ltd. Oct 2008
37 This implies that full recovery of economic costs needs to be demonstrated over time.
38 Sustainability of Publicly Funded Research Establishments – Final report of the Research Council Institute and Public Sector Research Establishment
Sustainability Study Steering Group, (undated)
Sustainability of Research Centres 11 June 2012